Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Seriously?” I leaned up on my elbow.
“Yes. Biology is a strange thing. I’d imagine it was to keep some kind of balance. If someone lived forever and could potentially just keep having more and more children…”
“You could build your own army,” I joked.
“Something like that.”
“But what if you’re not ready for children?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “I guess you have ten years to decide, and then you’re out of luck.”
“That sucks.”
“On the other hand, you’re immune to all human disease and live forever,” he replied dryly. “The trade-off seems fair.”
“I guess so. Do you want kids?”
“Yes.” The response was immediate.
“How many?”
“However many we get.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it again. “That isn’t as terrifying of an answer considering there’s a time limit,” I said finally.
Beau laughed. “Do you want kids?”
“I haven’t really thought about it,” I confessed. “I mean, there wasn’t really any reason to. I’ve been single most of my adult life, and being a single parent doesn’t appeal.”
“Understandable.”
“But I don’t want them now,” I said quietly. “We just met, and I’ve already met my quota of impulsive decisions for the rest of my life.”
“We’ll wait,” he replied, reaching out to run his fingertips over my arm. “There’s no rush.”
“But there sorta is.”
“We have ten years. We could wait for a couple and then revisit.”
“Okay, yeah.” I sighed. “Yeah, that works. I’m on birth control, so—”
“Human birth control doesn’t work on mates.”
“Fuck.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Condoms for the win,” I sang glumly.
“I can take a pill,” he replied evenly, his lips twitching.
“Men can take birth control pills?”
“Vampires have medication that prevents conception, yes.”
“Whoa.”
“The idea that the female partner should shoulder that responsibility makes little sense if you consider that she’ll be responsible for actually growing the child should they choose to have one.”
“I agree,” I announced loudly.
“That’s good since there’s currently no birth control option for mates.”
“Oh, well.” I huffed and laid back down. “What if she doesn’t want one and her mate disagrees?”
Beau stared like I was crazy.
“What? It happens.”
“Not in our culture, it doesn’t.”
“That’s a pretty broad declaration,” I argued. “Do you know every single Vampire on the planet?”
“If a Vampire forced his mate to have his children, he would be ostracized. It’s not done.”
“I’m sure there’s someone—”
“Fine,” he said flatly. “There could possibly be a Vampire somewhere at some point that went against his mate’s wishes and got her pregnant.”
“Both males and females should have the option.”
“I think—” He paused.
“What?”
“I think that mates don’t have birth control because they’re rare. It sometimes takes hundreds of years for a Vampire to find their mate, so once they’re found, researchers aren’t willing to gamble on trying medication that has the potential to make them sterile. And Vampires sure as hell aren’t willing to let their mates be guinea pigs.”
“Well, that’s annoyingly understandable.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“This is weird, right?” I asked, sliding my legs against the cool sheets. “I mean we just met and we’re discussing children.”
“Mating bonds are for life. Why wouldn’t we decide together what that looks like?”
“I just mean, it’s really soon to just be putting it all out there.”
“Human relationships are bizarre.”
“We’re bizarre?” I widened my eyes at him. “Seriously?”
“The Gods chose you for me and me for you. It’s not as if anything either of us do will change that now. We’ll figure out the rest as we go.”
“As easy as that, huh?”
“I’d imagine being the one to choose a lifelong partner would be stressful. How would you ever know if you’d made the right choice?”
“A lot of people get it wrong,” I joked. “That’s why there are so many divorces.”
“Bizarre,” he repeated.
“You’re bizarre,” I grumbled.
“I saved you from a lot of uncertainty.”
I laughed. “Because this whole thing hasn’t been a complete mindfuck,” I replied sarcastically.
“That’s fair.”
“I know it is.”
“You always have to have the last word, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Beau didn’t actually roll his eyes, but the expression of exasperation said exactly what he was thinking.
“What was it like growing up back then?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Dirty,” he replied with a huff. “Simpler. Scarier, at least as a kid. Back then only the highest levels of government even knew we existed. Humans were more superstitious, so anything remotely strange or different was suspicious.”
“The witch trials.” I nodded sagely.
“That was before my time,” he corrected with a wince.
“Oh, sorry,” I teased. “Did I age you?”
“You’re not as funny as you think you are.”
“I’m twice as funny as I think I am.”
“It was slower,” he said, reaching over to pull me toward him. “We lived in town, so there was always a lot of movement, but at the end of the day, homes were quiet. We’d play, and my mom would make dinner—”
“You didn’t have a maid?”
“We were trying to blend in,” he said, tightening his arm around me. “And contrary to every show on television, the average household didn’t have help.”